"Morning," he said with a polite nod.
"Morning," I replied.
He paused at the edge of the porch. "Saw the police going through earlier. Everything all right up here?"
I chuckled bitterly. "Depends what you call all right."
He tapped his cane lightly on the ground. "Heard rumors Karen was up to something. She's been poking her nose around a lot of cabins lately."
My eyebrows shot up. "You're kidding."
"Wish I was," he said, lowering himself onto the porch step. "Couple of the folks down the hill mentioned lights flickering at odd hours. One neighbor said he found footprints behind his garage. Another swore his outdoor outlet had been tampered with."
My stomach tightened. So it was more than just me.
The man leaned in, slightly lowering his voice. "She's always been entitled, I guess. Acts like she's queen of the ridge. Claims she's head of some kind of mountain committee that only exists in her imagination."
I sighed. "Figures. What'd she do to you?"
He asked. So, I told him the whole story from start to finish. When I got to the part where she called the cops on me, he let out a long whistle.
"Well, son," he said, "looks like she finally messed with someone who knows what they're doing. Most folks up here don't know much about electricity. Hard to prove a theft without knowing how the system works."
"Lucky me," I said.
"Luck?" He shook his head. "Sounds more like good sense. The mountain needs more folks like you."
His words warmed me more than the coffee. But the man wasn't done.